It’s meaningful to learn Verbs and Tenses together as verbs are always identified along with the tense in which they are used. Let’s recall what these grammatical terms refer to.
What are verbs?
Verbs are action words. They also indicate a state of being. We do use verbs to express occurrences too. Verbs when used in the right tense convey our meaning both while speaking and writing.
Examples
1. He runs fast. (action)
2. Susan is at home now. (state)
3. Students develop a bond with teachers. (occurrence)
What does tense refer to?
Tense refers to time or duration of the action or state a verb denotes.
Examples:
1. We are playing now. Here the action of playing is going on at the moment of speaking.
2. Jack and Sam had met before. In this sentence ‘had met’ indicates that the action of meeting had happened before.
3. The team will practice regularly. Here we understand that the team will do the action in future.
So tenses help us know whether a verb refers to the past, present or future. Tenses make our plans and thought clearer to our listeners. Thus verbs and tenses go hand in hand.
The 12 tenses in English grammar
- Simple Present
- Present Continuous
- Present Perfect
- Present Perfect Continuous
- Simple Past
- Past Continuous
- Past Perfect
- Past Perfect Continuous
- Simple Future
- Future Continuous
- Future Perfect
- Future Perfect Continuous
We see that Present, Past and Future are the three broad tenses. Each has four tenses to indicate the time and sometimes even the sequence of actions. Hence learning to use verbs in different tenses will help improve the way you express yourself.
Verbs have three forms. They are base, past and past participle.
| Base | Past | Past Participle |
| Buy | Bought | Bought |
| Come | Came | Come |
| Do | Did | Done |
| Feel | Felt | Felt |
| Go | Went | Gone |
| Swim | Swam | swum |
| Think | Thought | thought |
These have to be learnt thoroughly in order to learn tenses.
STRUCTURE OF THE TWELVE TENSES
THE PRESENT TENSE
| Simple Present | Present Continuous | Present Perfect | Present Perfect Continuous |
| I sing. | I am singing. | I have sung. | I have been singing. |
| Subject + verb (base form) | Subject + am + verb +ing | Subject + have + verb (past participle) | Subject + have + been + verb + ing |
| Simple Present | Present Continuous | Present Perfect | Present Perfect Continuous |
| We/You/They sing. | We/You/They are singing. | We/You/They have sung. | We/You/They have been singing. |
| Subject + verb (base form) | Subject + are + verb + ing | Subject + have + verb (past participle) | Subject + have + been + verb + ing |
| Simple Present | Present Continuous | Present Perfect | Present Perfect Continuous |
| He/She/It sings. | He/She/It is singing. | He/She/It has sung. | He/She/It has been singing. |
| Subject + verb (base form with ‘s’ or ‘es’) *He brushes | Subject + is + verb + ing | Subject + has + verb (past participle) | Subject + has + been + verb + ing |
THE PAST TENSE
| Simple Past | Past Continuous | Past Perfect | Past Perfect Continuous |
| I sang. | I was singing. | I had sung. | I had been singing. |
| Subject + verb (past form) | Subject + was + verb +ing | Subject + had + verb (past participle) | Subject + had + been + verb + ing |
| Simple Past | Past Continuous | Past Perfect | Past Perfect Continuous |
| We/You/They sang. | We/You/They were singing. | We/You/They had sung. | We/You/They had been singing. |
| Subject + verb (past form) | Subject + were + verb + ing | Subject + had + verb (past participle) | Subject + had + been + verb + ing |
| Simple Past | Past Continuous | Past Perfect | Past Perfect Continuous |
| He/She/It sang. | He/She/It was singing. | He/She/It had sung. | He/She/It had been singing. |
| Subject + verb (past form) | Subject + was + verb + ing | Subject + had + verb (past participle) | Subject + had + been + verb + ing |
THE FUTURE TENSE
| Simple Future | Future Continuous | Future Perfect | Future Perfect Continuous |
| I shall/will sing. | I shall/will be singing. | I shall/will have sung. | I shall/will have been singing. |
| Subject + shall/will +verb (base form) | Subject + shall/will + be+ verb +ing | Subject + shall/will + have + verb (past participle) | Subject + shall/will +have+ been + verb + ing |
| Simple Future | Future Continuous | Future Perfect | Future Perfect Continuous |
| We/You/They shall/will sing | We/You/They shall/will be singing. | We/You/They shall/will have sung. | We/You/They shall/will have been singing. |
| Subject + shall/will + verb (base form) | Subject + shall/will+ be + verb + ing | Subject + shall/will+ have + verb (past participle) | Subject + shall/will + have + been + verb + ing |
| Simple Future | Future Continuous | Future Perfect | Future Perfect Continuous |
| He/She/It shall/will sing. | He/She/It shall/will be singing. | He/She/It shall/will have sung. | He/She/It shall/will have been singing. |
| Subject + shall/will + verb (base form) | Subject + shall/will + be + verb + ing | Subject + shall/will+ have + verb (past participle) | Subject + shall/will + have + been + verb + ing |
The above tables will be useful to learn the twelve tenses and also their structures.
To practise identifying verbs and their tenses read https://prepareforenglish.com/the-importance-of-education
To know when to use these tenses visit https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/what-are-the-basic-verb-tenses/